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A NASA mechanic secures the afterbody to a Mercury capsule in the hangar at the Lewis Research Center. The capsule was one of two built at Lewis for the Big Joe launches scheduled for September 1959. The initial phase of Project Mercury consisted of a series of unmanned launches using the Air Forces Redstone and Atlas boosters and the Langley-designed Little Joe boosters. The first Atlas launch, referred to as Big Joe, was a single attempt early in Project Mercury to use a full-scale Atlas booster to simulate the reentry of a mock-up Mercury capsule without actually placing it in orbit. The overall design of Big Joe had been completed by December 1958, and soon thereafter project manager Aleck Bond assigned NASA Lewis the tas

A NASA mechanic secures the afterbody to a Mercury capsule in the hangar at the Lewis Research Center. The capsule was one of two built at Lewis for the Big Joe launches scheduled for September 1959. The initial phase of Project Mercury consisted of a series of unmanned launches using the Air Forces Redstone and Atlas boosters and the Langley-designed Little Joe boosters. The first Atlas launch, referred to as Big Joe, was a single attempt early in Project Mercury to use a full-scale Atlas booster to simulate the reentry of a mock-up Mercury capsule without actually placing it in orbit. The overall design of Big Joe had been completed by December 1958, and soon thereafter project manager Aleck Bond assigned NASA Lewis the tas

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Credit: piemags

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Recording Date: Jan 1, 1900

Media Size: 2,048×1,536 Pixels

A NASA mechanic secures the afterbody to a Mercury capsule in the hangar at the Lewis Research Center. The capsule was one of two built at Lewis for the Big Joe launches scheduled for September 1959. The initial phase of Project Mercury consisted of a series of unmanned launches using the Air Forces Redstone and Atlas boosters and the Langley-designed Little Joe boosters. The first Atlas launch, referred to as Big Joe, was a single attempt early in Project Mercury to use a full-scale Atlas booster to simulate the reentry of a mock-up Mercury capsule without actually placing it in orbit. The overall design of Big Joe had been completed by December 1958, and soon thereafter project manager Aleck Bond assigned NASA Lewis the tas

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